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Everything posted by Strange
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How did homosexuality evolve?
Strange replied to Itoero's topic in Evolution, Morphology and Exobiology
Still not relevant. Nonsense. Apart from anything else, one could assume that the documented cases relate to a similar proportion of all cases throughout history. But there have been times and places where people have been open about homosexual relationships. Overall it seems that levels of homosexuality in history are roughly constant Anyway the implied claim by Xeno was that there was an increased level caused by massive overcrowding. With no evidence of an increased level of homosexuality (which you suggest is impossible to obtain anyway) and no evidence of that sort of overcrowding, it is a completely irrelevant argument. -
Good point. So this is an example of the observations not being (fully) explained by the current theory and so a new hypothesis (Vulcan) is suggested as a solution. This is similar to Neptune, as you say, but also the discovery of neutrinos (I read that one hypothesis at the time was that perhaps the law of conservation of energy was wrong; or, at least, only true on average), dark matter, dark energy and no doubt others.
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Sociology as a forum catagory
Strange replied to StringJunky's topic in Suggestions, Comments and Support
That would also be a good place for the recently suggested thread conspiracy theories and how social media help spread them. -
You could disprove a theory or a hypothesis just by showing evidence that contradicted it. it isn't necessary to have an alternative theory. For example, back in the 19th century it was found that the precession of the perihelion of Mercury could not be explained by Newtonian gravity. So, at that point, it was known that Newtonian gravity was "wrong". It took about another 50 years before a new theory of gravity was produced (General Relativity). So Newtonian gravity was still used. And, because it is still good enough for many purposes, it is still used today. But often the evidence that shows one theory to be wrong, is also the key evidence that allows a new theory to be developed (for example, the transition from the phlogiston theory of combustion to the one based on oxygen).
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I just unhid* a post from Mike-from-theBronx, which you might have missed, that I actually think is a pretty neat idea. * Because reasons. Nothing to worry about.
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How did homosexuality evolve?
Strange replied to Itoero's topic in Evolution, Morphology and Exobiology
But there is no reason to think that any of that is relevant. We are not rats. We do not live in conditions so crowded that we resort to cannibalism, etc. And you have not shown any evidence that homosexuality (in humans) has increased over time, or with increasing population density. -
How did homosexuality evolve?
Strange replied to Itoero's topic in Evolution, Morphology and Exobiology
I am not aware thaIs there any evidence that levels of homosexuality are related to population density or stress? I suspect not, as it has always existed in all societies. -
It could just be dimly lit so that it is not visible in daylight but becomes visible as the ambient light level falls. If it glows because of UV, do you want this to be deliberate or by lucky chance (there are a lot of materials that glow in UV light even though they are not "designed" to do so; tonic water is a classic example).
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What is the deepest mystery of physics and why is it so?
Strange replied to PrimalMinister's topic in General Philosophy
Maybe relevant/interesting Why the Laws of Physics Are Inevitable: https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-simple-rules-bootstrap-the-laws-of-physics-20191209/ -
I don't *think* there has been any discussion on that (or I haven't noticed it). Obviously, like all science forums, this one gets its fair share of people with their own personal theories (mainly physics, but occasionally evolution or mathematics), conspiracy theories and anti-science agendas. These people have always existed but the web, and social media, gives them more opportunities and larger audiences. I can't see a problem with you starting a thread on that, if you want to.
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toolbox banned for being another tedious sock puppet. And now pittsburghj0e.
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! Moderator Note Sock puppetry is against the rules
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These directions seem arbitrary: it depends how you visualise/draw these. There is no inherent direction to either. Maybe, if you define what you mean by "complementary".
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There is a similar thing with alcohol. There is an increase in the death rate for various diseases (that are often associated with alcohol) among people who do not drink at all. One conclusion is that modest drinking has a slight protective effect (we wish) but another (perhaps more likely) hypothesis is that a significant number of those who don't drink at all are those who have stopped because excessive drinking had already cause damage.
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There is a slight bug in the Forum software: the LaTeX is not properly rendered until you refresh the page. I discovered ML when I was at college and wrote a simulator for a processor using it. For "fun".
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Limka has been banned as a spammer. If anyone thinks their thread “Struggling with Special Relativity” is worth keeping let us know and we can restore it. (The question was apparently copied from Reddit.)
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Science is dogma (split from What is the Purpose of Life ?)
Strange replied to Strange's topic in Speculations
1. There is no "authority" in science 2. There is nothing incontrovertible in science 3. There is no "truth" in science (or, at least, only provisional truth) If it was meant to be ignored, you shouldn't have said it. (And it was understood. It is just wrong.) We have to go by the evidence of what you say. So, no. -
Science is dogma (split from What is the Purpose of Life ?)
Strange replied to Strange's topic in Speculations
Of course it would. No one does. Science has been defined as the art of being creatively wrong. Mans I’m not convinced science has much to do with “truth” Yes, someone who knows how science works. And is able to summarise it succinctly. You either don’t know what the word “dogma” means or you don’t know how science works. Or maybe both. -
Really? The astrophysicist Katie Mack said this recently: https://twitter.com/AstroKatie/status/1203322360826408960
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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
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The “fabric” metaphor often leads people astray in this regard. (And welcome back!)
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You can do a set of experiments that show a correlation between, say, how regularly men shave and their risk of early death. (It turns out that men who do not shave regularly die earlier.) But this does not show that not shaving regularly causes you to die earlier. To demonstrate causation, you would need to do further experiments to test that specifically. (Or you could hypothesise that people who do not shave regularly have other problems that are causal for shorter life - physical or mental health, poverty, etc) I would say that correlation by itself is never(?) enough to demonstrate causation. But if, for example, you already know of a mechanism whereby A could cause B then if you find a correlation, it is perhaps indicative of causation. (But then you are not relying on just the correlation but also other information.) That is one of the things mentioned in the Bradford Hill page. But note that is about epidemiological studies where (I think) it is notoriously difficult to demonstrate causation because you are dealing almost entirely with statistical correlations. In other types of experiments, you might be able to look more closely at the potentially causative factors to determine which are actual causal and which are correlated (because of some other cause, for example).
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Would someone here please defend my honor
Strange replied to Joseph Lazar's topic in Suggestions, Comments and Support
You want to debate your mistaken belief? And you're not going to deny being a sockpuppet? -
What is the deepest mystery of physics and why is it so?
Strange replied to PrimalMinister's topic in General Philosophy
That doesn't mean we cant work out when it will start raining, for example. -
Would someone here please defend my honor
Strange replied to Joseph Lazar's topic in Suggestions, Comments and Support
! Moderator Note Moved to a more appropriate forum. Two things: 1. I believe you are a sock-puppet of a previously banned member. That is a violation of the rules. 2. Everything you have posted is ignorant nonsense not supported by any science.